Jessica Simpson’s been so preoccupied canoodling and TwitPicing PDA snapshots of new beau Eric Johnson, she forgot to contact Andrea Bocelli about recording a duet that the buxom blonde had hoped to include on her as-yet-titled Christmas album. Now his schedule’s all booked up, leaving no time for pop music’s prized dunce. Instead, the singer’s dream of dueting with the world-renowned classical musician on a holiday-themed track has been dashed as an extraordinarily busy schedule takes Bocelli out of contention for Jessica’s compilation.
On Tuesday, legendary tenor Andrea Bocelli was rewarded for his contributions to music with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles. Despite losing his sight to glaucoma at age 12, Bocelli won his first song competition at 14, completed law school, and has gone on to become one of the most esteemed vocalist in history.
His classical recordings include “Viaggio Italiano,” “Aria — The Opera Album,” “Sacred Arias”; “Il Trovatore” and Massenet’s “Werther.” Bocelli’s most recent album, My Christmas, spent six weeks at No. 2 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart.
Grammy-winning performers Andrea Bocelli and Mary J. Blige are hoping to raise money for the earthquake relief efforts in Haiti with their 40th Anniversary revival of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water –” which they performed onstage during the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday night.
Mary J. Blige, The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, is teaming up with opera star Andrea Bocelli for a duet at Sunday’s 52nd Annual Grammy Awards.
In celebration of the 40th Anniversary Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” the duo will cover the Grammy Award-winning song to raise money for the Haiti relief effort. The Blige/Bocelli rendition of the song will be available for download immediately following the show at iTunes.com/Target to raise money for the American Red Cross’ relief efforts in devastated island nation.
The superstars last performed together on a November broadcast of The Oprah Winfrey Show, where they sang “What Child is This.” [Watch below.]
The 2010 Grammy Awards — featuring performances by Lady Gaga, Beyonce, and Taylor Swift — air Sunday, January 31 on CBS.
